Angela Watkinson MP

"Well, gentlemen, I see we have a good gathering tonight," said
side-burned Forth, like a teddy boy relishing a dust-up with some mods
at the local disco. "I think we ought to have a discussion of what this
group believes in. I must say I always thought we believed in lower
taxes, locking up more criminals and standing up for Britain. But now I
am told we stand for something called REACHING OUT! He shrieked the
words with melodramatic disgust."

This morning's account in the Times (£)
of a "dinner table plot to unseat the coalition" turns out to be the second subtantial leak from the No Turning Back
Group - the right-of-party-centre backbench dining club of Conservative
MPs of which I was once a member. The first is chronicled in loving detail
in Simon Walters's romp, Tory Wars,
and I quote from the words of the late, great Eric Forth - whose attack
on Michael Portillo opens the account. (It followed Portillo's speech to the Conservative Conference in 2000.)

Key quotes:

Portillo:
"Presumably you want homosexuals and lesbians to vote for us? We don't
want to say to them: "We don't like you, we don't want your vote."

Owen
Paterson: "You are obsessed by a few issues which are of great interest
to the metropolitan elite, but they are of no concern to most of our
members who don't live in London."

Alan Duncan: "Michael is right. We have got to appeal to other groups such as ethnic minorities."

John
Bercow: "If we give the impression that we are bigoted about gays or
people of other races, then we will lose floating votes too."

"Redwood,
relishing the sight of his right-wing adversary [Portillo] being
roasted on the spit, gave it another turn. 'We are not bigots. We simply
don't want to make these issues a big part of Conservative policies.' "

"David
Davis, who arrived late, sat back and enjoyed the spectacle of his best
friend Forth making a fool of Portillo, whom he had long held in
contempt."

Over ten years on, how fortunate we are that these contentious issues have been put to rest!

A
word on the Times's story and the NTB itself. The Times refers to some
MPs “chuntering” about a leadership contest. If that's all that took
place, what took place wasn't a "plot" - so the headline is a bit out
of proportion. The Times mentions the idea of a "mandate referendum" to
precede the In-Out one to which David Cameron is committed. There's no
great mystery about whose idea that is. It's Davis's. We know that because...he set it out publicly at a ConservativeHome conference last autumn.

Finally,
note the names quoted in the Times story: Davis, Redwood, Liam Fox,
Bernard Jenkin. Chris Grayling. These names are those of very senior
MPs. The report also says: "it is understood that about a
dozen MPs were present". If that's right, it sounds like a gathering
consisting almost entirely of senior and older MPs. I wonder if the NTB
is replenishing its membership. At any rate, no member of the 2010
intake, which now constitutes half the Parliamentary Party, is quoted in
the story.

When I was a member of the NTB in the last Parliament,
about 20 or so MPs would turn up regularly, including John Baron, Mark
Harper, Jonathan Djanogly, Andrew Turner, and Angela Watkinson. Clubs
of Tory MPs spring up all the time - for example, the Free Enterprise
Group, which gave very public advice to Osborne earlier this week - and
the more established ones must renew themselves to stay at the cutting
edge. One thing's certain: the NTB will this morning be undertaking a
leak enquiry.

The rest of Britain is focused on the welter of honours for Britain's Olympians but ConHome's focus is on the politicians who've been recognised. We therefore congratulate two Tory MPs - Eurosceptic backbencher and civil liberties campaigner Sir Richard Shepherd and former Whip and headteacher Dame Angela Watkinson.

Other big political names to be honoured include former Labour Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett. She becomes a Dame. Cherie Blair is awarded a CBE for her charitable work and her campaigning for women's equality.

"Among other elected politicians to be recognised is former Eastenders actor Michael Cashman, Labour member of the European Parliament for the West Midlands and founder of gay rights group Stonewall, who becomes a CBE. A CBE also goes to Roger Williams, Lib Dem MP for Brecon and Radnorshire. Among those made OBEs are Annette Brooke, Lib Dem MP for Mid Dorset and Poole, and Christopher Fraser, who stood down as a Tory MP at the last election. George Kynoch, ex-deputy chair of the Scottish Conservatives and Andrew Wiseman, chair of the Lib Dems Federal Finance Committee, are also similarly honoured while Conservative MEP and businessman Malcolm Harbour becomes a CBE for his services to the UK economy. Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem member of the London Assembly, becomes an MBE."

My series profiling the backbench groups of Tory MPs has so far mainly featured groups founded or mostly composed of 2010 intake MPs. Last time, I looked at the Thatcherite No Turning Back group, founded in the 1980s. This week's group is somewhere between the two. The Cornerstone Group is the main group whose defining mission is to represent socially conservative Members of Parliament. The group was formed in 2005, and presented some challenges for David Cameron's leadership. In this profile, I'll see how the group is doing now.

Origins of the group

Cornerstone was founded by Edward Leigh and John Hayes, who still chair the group. Leigh has been the MP for Gainsborough since 1983, and is a former Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department of Trade and Industry, who was sacked for his opposition to Maastricht, and John Hayes, who has been the MP for South Holland and the Deepings since 1997, and the Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning since 2010.

Cornerstone admired the work done during Iain Duncan Smith's time as leader to promote a more communitarian, Burkean conservatism, and wanted to ensure IDS' work on this front was carried on.

When the group launched formally in July 2005, it released a pamphlet, which criticised Michael Howard's election campaign for being too quiet about tax cuts, public service reform and family values. Strongly condemning the personality politics and liberalism of New Labour, Leigh wrote:

"We believe that these values must be stressed: tradition, nation, family, religious ethics, free enterprise ... Emulating New Labour both lacks authenticity and is unlikely to make us popular. We must seize the centre ground and pull it kicking and screaming towards us. That is the only way to demolish the foundations of the liberal establishment and demonstrate to the electorate the fundamental flaws on which it is based."

The group first exerted its influence during the 2005 leadership contest. A group of about twenty Cornerstone supporters interviewed David Cameron, David Davis and Liam Fox. Fox apparently put in the best performance, while David Davis was, reportedly, not able to take criticism well. This meeting, combined with David Davis' alienating stint as the Minister for Europe under Major, and Davis' reluctance to support Iain Duncan Smith's compassionate conservatism programme wholeheartedly, is thought to be why many Cornerstone supporters first voted for Fox, and then switched to Cameron.

In my series profiling groups of Tory MPs, most groups I've looked at have been mostly or wholly composed of 2010 intake MPs. The next group is bit different, as it was founded more than 25 years ago. The No Turning Back group has a proud history of celebrating and promoting Thatcherism. How is the group doing now? In this profile, I'll be examining what No Turning Back, the backbench group for Thatcherites in Parliament, is doing now.

Origins of the group

No Turning Back was founded in 1985 to defend Mrs Thatcher's free-market policies. The 25 founding members included, amongst others, now-Deputy Chairman Michael Fallon, now-Defence Minister Gerald Howarth, and the late, great Eric Forth.

"To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the “U” turn, I have only one thing to say. “You turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning.” I say that not only to you but to our friends overseas and also to those who are not our friends."

Key members

There are about 100 members of the group, which is chaired by John Redwood, including "quite a lot" from the 2010 intake. Members include such big beasts as John Redwood, David Davis, Bernard Jenkin, Peter Lilley, Lord Forsyth, and Liam Fox. Current Conservative officeholders who are members of the group include the Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith; David Cameron's PPS, Desmond Swayne; Nick Clegg's Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Mark Harper; the Minister of State for Transport, Theresa Villiers; a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice, Jonathan Djanogly; three government whips, Angela Watkinson, Mark Francois and Greg Hands; the Chairman of the Procedure Committee, Greg Knight; and the Chairman of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, John Whittingdale, who was Mrs Thatcher's Political Secretary in the late 1980s.

"Of course, schools sometimes mistake disability for disobedience. Children with special educational needs are nine times more likely to be permanently excluded from school, and the Government are rightly committed to reducing the incidents of such exclusions. In the light of that, will the Under-Secretary of State consider the merit of amending the law so that a child with SEN or disability may be permanently excluded from school only if a review has taken place of the sufficiency and effectiveness of the reasonable adjustments that have been made under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to seek to accommodate that pupil?

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: I thank the hon. Gentleman for his question. I pay tribute to his expertise in this area of special educational needs, and we certainly share his passion and commitment to promoting improved outcomes for children with SEN and disabilities. I am, of course, aware that he has a private Member’s Bill that is due for its Second Reading on 15 May. I believe that that is one proposal that may be considered in it. We certainly look forward to debating that."

By contrast Shadow Minister for Children Tim Loughton stressed the importance of protecting pupils from violence:

"Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con): Government figures last year revealed that there was a drop of 13 per cent. in permanent exclusions between 2003 and 2007 despite a 50 per cent. increase in the number of children suspended for five times or more— 867 of them excluded for 10 times or more—at a time that saw 4,370 fixed exclusions for serious racist abuse and more than 207,000 serious offences, such as sexual abuse and violence. Yet, in no fewer than 40 per cent. of appeals against permanent exclusions, reinstatement was upheld so that pupils could return to the scene of their offences with impunity, most of them having nothing to do with SEN. Does the Minister think it right that a pupil who has been excluded for violent crime, racist or sexual abuse should be readmitted to schools under any circumstances against the better judgment of the head or the governors?

Sarah McCarthy-Fry: We are certainly committed to backing head teachers’ authority when pupils’ behaviour warrants exclusion. Last year, the number of successful appeals was just 1.2 per cent. of all permanent exclusions, so we must get this in balance. We obviously recognise, and we have said in response to Alan Steer's report, that repeated suspension should lead to permanent exclusion. We are certainly giving back head teachers authority in that."